Marichat May
by La Luna Unita
Summary: This was a one-shot for Marichat May Day 17: Balcony Visits. Marinette makes snacks, and Chat Noir follows his nose! oookay...adding Day 18: Rejection as a second chapter because this is fun. There's also a Day 14: Age-up Chat Noir story, involving the Secret Six. Gee, can you guess what I've been reading lately? ;)
1. Marichat May Day 17: Balcony Visits

Marichat May 17: Balcony Visits

This is for callmecirce, whose writing has been super inspiring for me this month!

"Hello, Chat Noir," said Marinette, pulling her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose as she turned over her shoulder to look at him. "A bit warm for the catsuit, don't you think?"  
"Only if you've been baking in the sun too long, _cherie_ ," he said, dropping down off the roof and landing silently on Marinette's small balcony. She pushed her sunglasses back up and looked down at her book, which rested on her knees. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he made himself comfortable against the railing.  
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Is dropping in on random citizens a pastime of yours?" Marinette marked her place in the novel and set it aside, pulling up one knee and lacing her fingers around it.  
To her surprise, Chat's bravado was not in evidence as he rubbed a gloved hand against his neck.  
"Ah, not typically, no. My civilian life was kinda cramping my style today, so I thought I'd get away for a while… and then there was this incredible smell…" his nose twitched as he sighted a big earthenware plate set out on the discarded spool Marinette used for a table. She giggled.  
"Really, Chat Noir? I thought it was dogs who were known for their sense of smell!" He crouched down to sniff at the plate of triangular baked goodies. She could practically see him salivating. She laughed again. "Well, since you do save Paris all the time, I guess the least this lowly civilian could do is invite you to join me. Samosas and tea?" She stood and lifted the skylight window that led to her loft, yanking out an oversized pillow and tossing it down next to the spool. Chat Noir's mouth opened and closed, and he took a seat. She pulled out a second striped pillow for herself and settled opposite him.  
"You seem awfully nonchalant for someone who doesn't regularly…entertain superheroes," he commented, head tilted to one side.  
"Well, hopefully you remember that we have met before. Remember Evillustrator?"  
"How could I forget?"  
"So I hope you won't be offended if I skip the swooning and pour you some tea instead." She lifted the large teapot and placed a hand on the lid to hold it in place as she poured. A grin tugged at one side of Chat Noir's mouth.  
"But the swooning's my favorite part," he protested, pushing the filled teacup politely to her and waiting as she filled the second.  
"Now, why doesn't that surprise me?" She responded, rolling her eyes. They clinked their teacups and sipped. Chat Noir's green-yellow eyes opened wide as he drank deeply from the cup.  
"What is that?! It's so good! " he exclaimed as he paused for a breath.  
"Homemade chai. It's a recipe they make in India, I found it in a cookbook last week."  
"It's spicy. I like it." Chat Noir took another experimental sip and again found it to his liking. "What's in it?"  
"A lot of different stuff. You're probably tasting the cloves and black pepper, if you taste spice. Let's see, cinnamon, cardamom…"  
"Well, whatever it is, it's great."  
"You better try a samosa, too. It'll knock your socks off. If you wear socks."  
Chat Noir flashed her another grin; this time she noticed his perfect teeth glinting in the afternoon sun. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He teased, prompting another eyeroll. He grabbed a samosa and bit into it. A moan involuntarily escaped his lips as he chewed, startling Marinette.  
"This, this is the best thing I've ever eaten. You _made_ this?" His sincere appreciation drew a warm blush to her cheeks. She could get used to these kinds of compliments.  
"Yeah, I was just messing around, trying some recipes…" she trailed off, arrested by the glow of his eyes.  
"Well, if you keep leaving these kinds of treats around, you'll end up attracting strays," he warned.  
Marinette felt her breath hitch just a little. "One can only hope," she replied with a slow smile.

* * *

 **I talked with a reader who was curious about why Marinette might be making Indian food, since she's French and Chinese. That's all me; I loooove to cook Indian dishes even though I'm just American with no Indian heritage in my family. In my fictional world, Marinette's basically got time to pursue all the hobbies I wish I could - trying out recipes, sewing, drawing, knitting, etc. And of course, we all write what we know, to some extent. I've only made samosas once, but they turned out killer and the fragrance... let's say it's memorable. I need to stop, I'm so hungry right now.**


	2. Marichat May Day 18: Rejection

"Not that one… no…no…still no…" Marinette muttered as she rifled through a storage box under her desk. She sighed and tugged it close for a deeper dive. Leaning forward, she grabbed skeins of yarn off the top of her stash and threw them haphazardly over her shoulder, looking down into the lower-most layers of fiber.

"Hey!" Exclaimed a voice behind her and she twisted around in surprise.

"Chat Noir! I didn't hear you come in. Sorry about that," she apologized, with a devious sparkle in her eyes. "Found the cookies, hmm?" Her gaze rose from the young superhero, offending yarn balls collected around his feet, to the stairs of her loft, where scattered cookie crumbs gave the only evidence of the hastily consumed treats.

"I did warn you about leaving food out for strays. Didn't think you'd actually leave a trail of cookies for me to find." He leaned over to pick up the last cookie, resting temptingly on the third stair from the floor.

"I had too much to do to sit around on the roof today. I figured you would know an invitation when you saw one." Marinette turned back to her box of yarn and pushed a few more skeins around. She sighed and shoved the box away.

"What are you looking for?" Chat Noir hunkered down next to her and peered into the box curiously.

"Oh, something blue. I have a friend and I wanted to make mittens to match a scarf, but I don't have enough of the original yarn left. Nothing quite fits, though." Marinette frowned, disappointed.

"Wow, who rates a scarf and mittens? That seems like a lot of work."

"A school friend. And yes, he's worth the time, to me." Chat Noir's curiosity was piqued, but he resisted asking about any names. Not Nino, surely. He and Alya were together, and Marinette wasn't the sort to come between anyone. Nathanael? He had a crush on her once. Marinette noticed the small frown creasing his brow as he became lost in thought.

"Chat? What's wrong?" His eyes came back into focus and he smiled at her.

"Nothing. Hey, what about this one? Ooh, soft." Chat Noir brought a green skein to his face and rubbed it lightly against his cheek, then stopped when he saw Marinette's lips twitch. "What?"

She burst out laughing. "Next thing I know, you'll be batting it around my bedroom floor! Kitty, kitty." She grabbed the brightly hued yarn out of his hands and dangled it above his head. He growled, slightly less than amused.

"Alright, very funny. Can I help it if you have good taste in yarn?" She flipped the package over and looked at the label.

"Actually, you do, if you like this one." Chat Noir leaned close to look at the picture and was rewarded with an image of Gabriel Agreste, wearing his trademark near-sneer. He rolled his eyes. He'd almost forgotten about his father's year long obsession with knits from a few seasons ago.

"What's so special about that yarn?" He asked, unable to hide some of the disdain he felt.

"Well, let's see… organic cotton, beautiful slubby thick-and-thin texture, natural plant-based dyes… oh, and it looks rockin' in a herringbone stitch. Not all yarns can pull that off, you know!"

"No, I wouldn't know," replied Chat Noir, amused. He took the skein of soft, shiny yarn back from her hands, resisting the urge to paw at it again. "So, off to the reject pile for this one?" His hand lingered when he saw the thoughtful look on Marinette's face. She stared up into his green-yellow cat's eyes, her rosy lips pursed into a tiny bud of a smile.

"Hmmm…somehow, I suspect you might look rockin' in a herringbone stitch too, Chat." Marinette reached for the yarn, her fingers lightly brushing the palm of his glove. He shivered, hiding the reaction to her touch behind a broad grin.

"What about mittens for your friend?"

"If he wants handmade, he can afford it," she shrugged, rising to her knees and pulling two knitting needles out of an old coffee can on her desk. She held the yarn up next to his shoulder and smiled.

#marichat may


	3. Marichat May Day 14: Age-up Chat Noir

This is a pretty loose take on the prompt…

"Than you, Ma'am!" Marinette chirped as the elderly school librarian handed her a stack of books. She shuffled them back and forth as the tower in her arms began to dip to one side, then placed her chin on the top to hold them steady. _Yeesh, did I get enough fashion books?_ she thought to herself, but couldn't really help the smile that followed. There were always things she hadn't read before when she went on a hunt through the stacks.

Stepping carefully toward the library's double-doors, she passed Nathanael, who sat hunched over a book at one table. "Oh, Catman, you're like an older Chat Noir with a bad upbringing and poor life choices," he muttered to himself with a chuckle. Marinette paused, her ears perking at the name _Chat Noir_. She couldn't help it. She leaned over his shoulder, straining past her armful of books to see what he was reading.

"What's that, Nathanael?" she asked. The boy started suddenly and slapped the pages closed on a comic book.

"Oh! Hi, Marinette. It's nothing. Just a comic book I like. It's called _Secret Six_." He moved to one side and slid the small volume over so she could see the cover. Oddly colorful characters in energetic poses were splashed across the scene.

"Is it good?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's the best. I don't think you'd like it though," Nathanael smiled up at her nervously and tried to return to his reading.

"Why not?" Marinette was piqued. Who was Nathanael to say what she would or wouldn't like?

"Well… it's only about bad guys. No heroes in it." He shrugged and turned back to his page once again. Marinette could see the conversation was over. Hmm. Must be really good, then.

"Okay, well, thanks, Nathanael," she replied and walked away, Nathanael barely giving her another glance. Staggering over to a different table, she set down her obscenely large stack of books and doubled back for a few more items before leaving.

At home, Marinette struggled to get the books up to her room, spilling them across her bedroom floor as soon as her arms came above the hatch. "Oof! Well, I guess I'm set for the weekend, Tikki," she winked at her kwami, who giggled in reply.

"I think your new designs are going to benefit from all this research, Marinette. You've had some great ideas lately!" Tikki flew close and nuzzled Marinette's cheek.

"Well, I _do_ have the best cheerleader in the world," Marinette smiled. "First, though, I think I'm taking a break. Now, where are those…" she sifted through the scattered volumes, unearthing several trade paperback collections and stacking them on her lap. "The library didn't have an extra copy of the one Nathanael was reading, but I got every other volume of _Secret Six_! Tikki, I haven't read comic books since I was eleven. I hope there's more to it than magical ponies or crime-fighting night stalkers."

Marinette tucked the volumes under her arm and climbed up into her loft, Tikki floating along behind. She flopped onto her bed stomach-first and flipped to the first page. Within minutes, she was hooked. "He _is_ like a Chat Noir who makes poor life choices!" she breathed, enraptured by an illustration of green eyes and tawny hair.

Hours later, Marinette was pulled from her thoughts by a tap on her skylight. Startled, she yanked her head back, only to see Chat Noir's bright smile illuminated by her lamp. Had it gotten dark already? She smiled and rose to her knees to lift the latch on her skylight. The young hero tumbled in, dropping into a neat, cross-legged seat on her comforter.

"Good evening, Marinette. Whatcha got there?" his eyes followed her hand as she guiltily tried to hide her comic book behind her back. Marinette could feel a blush heating up her cheeks.

"Nothing!" she replied, but Chat reached around her with a grin and relieved her of the thin collection.

"You read comic books? You're every teenage boy's fantasy, Mari." She rolled her eyes and frowned, making him laugh. "The _Secret Six_. Who are they?"

"It's really good," she defended, "It's not like typical hero stuff. Not that I'd want you or Ladybug to act like these guys, but the stories are amazing and the characters-"

"Like this guy?" He pointed to an illustration of Catman and Marinette's cheeks colored again. Fortunately, Chat Noir didn't notice. Surely it wasn't normal to have a crush on a comic book character, thought Marinette, alarmed.

"Um, sure. That's Catman. He's the team leader."

"Uh-huh. Cat-like powers and instincts? Feline-themed costume? Possibly a protector of the innocent? You want to tell me something, Marinette?"

"Okay, okay, yes! He kinda reminds me of you. Clearly you are much nicer - usually, anyway." Marinette crossed her arms and tried to look indignant, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Hmmm. Okay, seriously, we are not at all alike," he protested, flipping through the pages one at a time. "I've got way more style than this guy. Yellow and brown? What kind of a color combo is that? Yuck." Chat Noir stuck his tongue out to emphasize his point. Marinette snatched the comic book back, slapped it closed, and stuffed it under her pillow. _For later,_ she promised herself.

"It's true, you are sartorially superior, Chat," she agreed, happy to steer the conversation in another direction. "Speaking of which, do you want to see the designs I'm working on?" Chat Noir nodded enthusiastically and they exited the loft, Marinette casting one last longing glance at her pillow as she descended. _I'll be back soon, I promise_ , she thought toward the hidden stash of comics, then went to entertain her uninvited guest.


End file.
